Asking Google Maps for walking directions between fictional locations from The Lord of the Rings produced this "Easter egg" response, quoting a character's warning from the story.[16]

In computer software, Easter eggs are secret responses that occur as a result of an undocumented set of commands. The results can vary from a simple printed message or image to a page of programmer credits or a small video game hidden inside an otherwise serious piece of software.

The use of the term "Easter egg" to describe secret features originates from the 1979 video game Adventure for the Atari 2600 game console, programmed by employee Warren Robinett. At the time, Atari did not include programmers' names in the game credits, fearing that competitors would attempt to steal their employees. Robinett, who disagreed with his supervisor over this lack of acknowledgment, secretly inserted the message "Created by Warren Robinett". This message would only appear if a player moved his/her avatar over a specific pixel (the "Gray Dot") during a certain part of the game. When Robinett left Atari, he did not inform the company of the acknowledgment that he included in the game. Shortly after his departure, the Gray Dot and his message were exposed by a player who told Atari about his discovery. Atari's management initially wanted to remove the message and release the game again, but this was deemed too costly an effort. Instead, Steve Wright, the Director of Software Development in the Atari Consumer Division, suggested that they keep the message and, in fact, encourage the inclusion of such messages in future games, describing them as Easter eggs for consumers to find.[4][5][6][7]